A cam follower of the pre-cited type configured as a bucket tappet is known from DE 198 01 701 A1. A drawback of this cam follower is that both its coupling sides have to be manufactured extremely exactly with respect to the idle stroke of the two coupling means and with respect to the radial clearance and a tolerance of the radial clearance. Likewise, only the smallest possible shape deviations are allowed. Thus, a switchable cam follower in keeping with the above requirements has a relatively complex structure and therefore also causes high manufacturing costs. At the same time, the system-related risk at the two coupling sides increases due to the double precision required.